Marchmont and Sciennes Community
Council
Minutes of Meeting held on October
25th, 2023 at St. Catherine’s Argyle Church Hall
Present: Brian
Gilmore - Chair, MSCC, Anne Laing - MSCC Secretary, Douglas Rogers - MSCC,
Anthony Holmes - Thirlestane Lane Association, Cllr. Neil Ross, Donald
Henderson - Grange Association, Cllr. Marie-Clair Munro
Apologies: Susan
Agnew - MSCC, Alison Service - MSCC Treasurer, Cllr. Steve Burgess
Attending: Nora
Flynn-McIver - Minutes Secretary
Meeting
began at 7:33pm
Draft Minutes of 27/09/23
Moved to delete the sentence about Meadows toilets being
kept up during the winter, as this is incorrect.
Moved to correct spelling of Anthony Holmes’ name and add
TLA.
Anne moves to approve, Douglas seconds, passes unanimously.
Matters Arising
a) Actions taken by Cllr. Kumar on
behalf of MSCC
i)
Cllr. Kumar has asked for an impact
report on bin hub placement, has been in touch with the relevant department
regarding signage on Sylvan Place, and has clarified the plans for the Meadows
toilets.
Police Report
It may be more difficult for the police to attend without a
specific reason, but are happy to come if they need to report on a specific
issue.
JR Group Reporting on Sylvan Place
Road closure and development (Calum Bell, Project Manager)
No report, as it was decided that there was very little to
report at this meeting.
Meadows and Bruntsfield Links incl.
FOMBL
No report.
City Councillor report on local
issues
There have been questions on placement of bin hubs in S2, S3
- many residents have been in touch wanting to review the way things are being
done. The Council previously agreed on revised criteria for assessing impact of
bin hub placement, the criteria is now less strict than it was. Many residents
don’t know whether bin hubs are being placed in their area. Councillors are
responding by attempting to explain and possibly find alternative areas, as
well as bringing along bin officers to meetings. Phase 4 has been better
advertised, and people have engaged on the subject well. People are now more
willing to work with the Council because they are being listened to. As long as
a bin hub is within 50 metres of most people who would be using it, they can be
across the street, but can be up to 100 metres away if it is on the same side
of the street.
There is particular discussion on Warrender Park Terrace
because people want the bins to stay where they are, but this is not allowed
under the new criteria. Cllr. Ross and others are attempting to discuss this
with people higher up in order to resolve this.
Publicity
Astley Ainsley Group has requested that MSCC advertise
events that are happening on this coming Sunday, this has been passed on to
Kayleigh to put on Facebook.
Sick Kids site
A report has been circulated. Home Group has removed the
substation, they are now drilling in the area and have hit the foundations, but
it should be a while until they dig them out. When this happens, they expect
several lorries per day to remove the soil and rocks.
Square and Crescent are moving their main access site to Rillbank
Terrace and are going to stop using the top access because of the impact on
Sciennes School. They are going to open a sales office in the building next to
the Sciennes Primary School playground. They hope to have this open within the
next year. They lost their planning application for work on the windows and
balconies, and will have to put original-looking frames there. They have
requested additional parking at the front of the hospital area, Douglas Rogers
has emailed them saying that the community would support an underground carpark
in that area rather than overground.
Downing: the pavement in front of the student block seems
too narrow, Douglas Rogers plans on measuring this to confirm.
Douglas is meeting Derek Roddin and Cllr Tim Pogson to discuss the about road
closures.
Planning applications
Three refusals to note: two proposals for 5G masts, one has
already been refused, another is pending but is likely to be rejected. There
are two short-term let applications that have been rejected. Brian Gilmore
notes that many short-term lets have not been approved but still exist. Cllr.
Ross notes that they get a lot of short term let licence applications, about
half are full houses, hundreds of planning applications are put in, but many
are trying to play the system in different ways in order to make the process
last longer.
Update on Sewer Flooding project
A report was circulated today from Catherine Henderson.
Junction on Marchmont Road will remain closed until the end of the year,
traffic control is working well. Next major phase is in March, they will get in
touch with affected residents.
Treasurer’s Report
Current balance £1920.09
Meetings attended
None.
Xmas tree event
Report has been circulated. The hall has been booked for
3:30 on Saturday, 25th November. A cappella Kids choir have been booked.
Sciennes School has offered portable PA. Awaiting confirmation of James
Gillespies of senior choir. Tree is confirmed to come in a block. Forms for the
Edinburgh Council have been submitted. Charity to be supported will be Children
1st Scotland. Need helpers for the day. Suggestions for a speaker: Brian
suggests asking our constituency MSP, Cllr. Munro suggests asking the Head Boy
and Girl at James Gillespies to do it.
AOCB
Douglas Rogers is continuing to coordinate on the
Conservation Adaptation programme, and he intends to give a presentation at the
next meeting on this. He will create a set of slides and forward it for
approval prior to the meeting.
Cllr. Munro notes that there has been a problem with about
delivery drivers on bikes and bikers acting irresponsibly. She has met with
police coordinators and noted the ways that bikers are behaving in the area,
especially Deliveroo drivers. The police are going to do a day in the Meadows
on the 13th of November to patrol and stop cyclists and delivery drivers, they
will be engaging with the community on how to cycle responsibly. This is for
Ward 10 specifically. Douglas notes that many people seem to have overridden
the cycling system on electric bikes, which is illegal. The police have also
noted that there are limited powers and resources in this area.
Cllr. Munro asked the Council on their views on Sciennes
Road being closed permanently for a playground for Sciennes Primary, the Council
has positive views on this. It is noted that there are difficulties with this
road being closed, but generally the Council is in favour. Anne asked if cyclists would still be able to
go down the road, this is noted as another issue, but Douglas suggests having a
cycling path on the other side of the road.
Cllr. Munro notes that there were people in a local
playground causing issues and trying to break the playset, this is apparently a
recurring issue, the police have attempted to catch them but have not been able
to. The police are going to keep an eye on this issue. The people involved come
from outside of the MSCC area.
Date of next meeting
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 at 7:30pm
